Speakeasy: Esquire bops Politico

- Esquire political writer Charles P. Pierce's nickname for Politico. Pierce knocked the paper's Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen for whining about "how hard you think your job is" in a Politico article titled "Obama, the puppet master." The White House Correspondents' Association had also complained over the weekend that the press lacked access during the president's trip to Florida.

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President Clinton probably wouldn't have used Twitter if it existed to defend himself during the Monica Lewinsky scandal the way Trump does against his accusers, according to his former press secretary Joe Lockhart.

Trump-Russia special counsel Robert Mueller is authorized to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump." The popular word for that is collusion, and it remains at the heart of both the Mueller and the Senate Intelligence Committee investigations. (Majority Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee recently announced they were unable to find evidence proving collusion.)

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio thinks fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe should have been allowed to serve out the two days he needed to work before he was eligible for his pension, instead of being dismissed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said President Trump’s attorneys are saying they think special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation should end because they made a mistake promising Trump the investigation would be over on New Year’s Eve.

Sen. Jeff Flake said Sunday it was a “horrible day for democracy” when Andrew McCabe was fired as deputy director of the FBI, and suggested President Trump is preparing to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.